#fiveya week 2020

[jjdoggies-fanfics]

Day 5: Guilt

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27396187

@fivevanya

Title: Little Do You Know, I’m Still Haunted By The Memories

She’d done it again. 

For a third time. 

Caused the apocalypse, or nearly did.

She was the reason Five spent nearly his entire life in the Apocalypse. She was the reason they had to flee to fucking Dallas, in the 60’s. She is the reason Ben died, and is replaced with this Other Ben. And she was the reason they came back, only to be kicked out of their own house.

Vanya honestly wished sometimes, that she could go back. To that blissfully oblivious month. When she believed she could live a normal life with Sissy and Harlan. Back when she didn’t have to deal with her family, or memories, or powers.

After they’d returned to 2019, being kicked out of their (former apparently) childhood home soon after, they splintered apart, again.

Allison made her way to Los Angeles, hoping Claire was still waiting for her; bringing Luther with her.

Diego similarly left, mentioning something about a friend of his and finding Lila. Klaus solemnly following behind him, wallowing in the loss of Ben. Their Ben. Because of Her.

While Five had stayed back, discussing something with their father, likely about not screwing up this timeline. About Her not ruining another timeline.

After everyone else splintered off, going their separate ways, again, Vanya alone, again. And somehow it hurt more being alone, being abandoned, forgotten, ignored, isolated, again. 

Perhaps, it is because, this time, it made sense. 

Because this time, she had done several things that likely caused her siblings to leave her. Namely, causing the apocalypse, for a second and third time, almost killing Allison, and actually killing Ben. Just to name a few.

Vanya silently wished she could return to The Academy, if only to use the basement. The bunker. The cell. Her prison. To lock herself away, like their father had, like Luther had, because, they were right. She was, is a monster. A bomb. A ticking time clock. The apocalypse.

She deserved to be locked up. Locked away. Kept away from everyone. From Allison. From Ben. Klaus. Diego. Luther. From Five.

She is a monster, and always will be.

She was destined to either end the world. Or, be killed, like a wild animal, by the people she grew up with.

She was never meant to be ordinary. She was never meant to be extraordinary. She never should have been born. Never been given the chance to live. To hurt. To kill. 

An itch had spread, from her wrist, up her arms, across her chest, around her neck, and down her back. Spreading all around. Infecting everywhere. Ruining everything.

Like she did.

Everything felt wrong.

It felt like Vanya didn’t belong in her own skin. In this body, despite it being her own. Or, at least she thought so. There was another thing. Another being. Personality. Alter ego. Living, residing inside her. One that had a thirst for blood, pain, revenge, murder. A constant voice in the back of her mind, telling her, pleading with her, begging her, to be freed. To hurt. To kill.

And for a while, Vanya had been able to silence the voice. For a month. In Dallas. She, It, was gone. And Vanya hadn’t noticed, until It came back. Bringing memories she’d rather have forgotten forever with It. Haunting her. Taunting her. Torturing her.

From the moment they touched down back in 2019, It was stronger than Vanya could ever remember. 

Whispering to her all the reasons that Diego hated her, wishing she was dead. Every secret moment they’d shared forever tainted by the blood she’d ever spilt, the invisible wounds she tore open and sold to the world, for a second of no longer being a nobody.

Taunting her with the memory of Luther rightfully squeezing the air from her lungs, when he should have waited for her heart to stop. As much as it burned, and hurt, at the moment, feeling as if the life was draining from her body, there had never been as much bliss that Vanya felt in her entire life than when she thought that the pain would stop. For good.

Reminding her as she looked at Other Ben, that it was her fault. It was always her fault. Every time. Because she wasn’t enough. She was never enough.

Ceaselessly filling her mind with images of accidentally slashing Allison’s throat, watching her sister bleed out on the floor, every time she glanced at her sister. Memories of hearing Allison and Klaus talking, and laughing, without her, as they did each other’s hair and nails. Bonding. Not needing, or wanting, their stupid ordinary sister hanging around. Never wanting her to be around. And still don’t.

Reliving every single time she had thought about how lucky Klaus was to have powers, ignoring all his complaints about the terrors that filled every waking moment and that clawed their ways into his dreams, because he had powers. He should be grateful to not be ordinary like she’d been. But, he didn’t end the world twice. Or kill his siblings.

Telling her that she was the reason Five was still in a teenage body. The reason that he suffered, for 45 years. Alone. Forced to join Them. Because of Her.

Hissing for her to stop Reginald’s heart again. To finally get revenge. For the imprisonment. The pills. The lies. The loneliness. The exile. The pain. The suffering. The hatred. The self-hatred.

But she couldn’t and never would.

For she was too much of a coward. Of a weakling. Too desperate for the attention. Or affection. The acknowledgment. To do anything to ruin it. But she already had.

She always did.

Always ruining everything. Because she never fit in. Never belonged. Not with Hargreeves. Not with her mother. Not with Leon- Harold, or with Sissy. Nowhere, with no one. Never had. Once had. Never will. Not again. As she was never meant to exist.

There was rain. Practically pouring around her.

She hadn’t noticed.

Too wrapped up in her own shit again to realize there was a world outside of her mind. Being selfish and self-centered again. Typical Vanya. Typical Number Seven. She hadn’t noticed the sky’s shift from partly sunny to being dark, cold rain pouring down. There was a reason she’d been given the lowest number. And it was very simple, she was the worst, at everything. 

She should probably move, stop sitting on the bench she hadn’t felt herself sit at in the first place, move somewhere dry, and safe. She didn’t deserve to be safe, not after what she’s done. What she could do. Maybe, if she sits in the freezing rain for long enough, sitting in her thoroughly soaked and now cold clothes, she will simply, die. As she’s meant to. Or, perhaps God, the little girl in the sky, will strike her down where she sits. Putting everyone out of their misery by removing her from existence.

She’s too much of a coward to do it herself.

She’s tried.

She’s tired. Too tired.

“Vanya?” Who was that? She felt like she’s supposed to remember this voice. “What the fuck are you doing? Are you an idiot?” The voice, attached to a boy. Five. Except, he wasn’t a boy. He looked older. Older than she could ever remember. He was pulling her from the bench, and in a flash, a flash of blue, she, they, were out of the rain. In some building. There was no one with them, only boxes. It was kind of dark. There were fingers in front of her face. Snapping. They were Five’s. “Vanya? You with me?”

Vanya nodded.

“What’s going on with you? I looked for you everywhere.” Five, he didn’t sound upset, or angry, like Vanya expected. He just sounded, “Are you okay?” concerned.

Vanya nodded. Again. Adding, “I’m fine. Sorry.”

He gave her a look. It wasn’t one she liked. But, it wasn’t a mean one either. Not like the one Five from the Brain Dinner had. “What are you sorry for? Just don’t wander off without me next time.”

“I’m sorry.” Vanya said, head dropping, eyes trained on the floor, feeling like she did every time she disappointed anyone, but especially their father, filled with shame, “Sorry for everything.”

There was silence. Vanya hated the silence, more that she hated It. The silence, left her alone with It.

“Vanya?” Five. There was a hand on her wrist, rain wasn’t hitting the metal roof anymore. “It’s okay.”

“How can it be okay? I did, horrible things.” Vanya asked, wishing she had the strength to pulled her wrist from Five’s grasp. But she simply didn’t.

Five took a hold of her other wrist. “If it makes anything better, I forgive you.” Her eyes met his. “I never blamed you, but I still forgive you.” Vanya gave him a weak smile, his forgiveness easing the weight on her chest and quieted Its voice for a bit. Five’s hands slid from her wrists to her shoulders, “Vanya.”

“Five.”

“There’s something very important that I need to tell you Vanya.” Five said, waiting for some confirmation from her, and when Vanya gave him a shy nod, Five told her. “I love you Vanya Hargreeves.”

Vanya knew that her face was completely flushed, feeling the heat spreading across her skin. Needless to say, that hadn’t been what she’d expected him to say. But, regardless, she told him that, “I love you too, Five Hargreeves.”

And just like that. Everything clicked. She fit. Vanya was home.

[jjdoggies]

Day 5: Guilt

moodboard for my day 5 of fiveya week, guilt

link to fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27396187

[fivebyseven]

FIVEYA WEEK of 2020 is in exactly ONE WEEK !! (Nov. 1 - Nov. 7)

Fiveya Week is a fan-created week of prompts where all interpretations of Five and Vanya’s (from The Umbrella Academy) relationship are welcome! We hope to see everyone participate and encourage all fanworks - fanfiction, fanart, moodboards, playlists and so on to be created. 

Click ( Here ) to see the rules on how to participate both on tumblr and twitter.

Prompts (All topics are open to interpretation.)

Day 1: Memories 

Day 2: Dancing/Training 

Day 3: Childhood 

Day 4: Sparrow Academy AU 

Day 5: Guilt 

Day 6: Endings/Beginnings 

Day 7: Free Choice!

THANK YOU -- @fiveyas for the wonderful graphics, @maradeur for the art, and @igpitn for organizing the week!

[pinacoladasprinkles]

Fiveya Dictionary (Day One: Memories)

Happy Fiveya Week 2020!

@fivevanya​

[manic-pixie-dream-dude]

5 Works Tag Game

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

thank you so much for tagging me @jubberry !!

Of the drawings I’ve made so far (They’re all TUA fanart), and in no particular order:

I’m super proud of this one!! I don’t usually make drawings that go past sketches/simple drawings, so I’m glad this one turned out well. Shoutout to the gif that inspired me and stopped me dead in my tracks to draw this. 

Someday I’ll find it again. Someday.

I drew this directly after discovering how to use the overlay layer and I went ham with the eyes, which look really nice. Bless the overlay layer, it makes my life easier. Oh, and the grey hairs! I really like the grey hairs.

also she smile : )

Another rendered one! This was my first properly rendered drawing and I’d say it turned out pretty neat. The uniform especially. I’m also proud of the anatomy!

I just really like Vanya’s hair in this one. Since I started posting after fiveya week ended, I thought I’d draw a little something based on the ‘dance’ prompt. I still look at the prompts from time to time when I’m sketching. Hopefully, I’ll participate in fiveya week next year! 

Again, I’m happy with how the anatomy turned out in this one, despite being awfully sketchy. I wanted to draw something domestic/intimate. Also, my preference for short (pint sized powerhouse, if you will) Five were really apparent here lmao.

That’s all I’ve got so far! Hopefully in the upcoming year I’ll post more art (and with more variety). 

I tag anyone who’d like to have a go! Have fun.

[pomarome]

Here is my (late) entry for day 6 of 2020 fiveya week @fivevanya . This is my first time doing animation. I hope it worked out!

12Nov2020edit: I also uploaded it onto YouTube for hopefully easier viewing on mobile

[rappaccini]

5 works tag game

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!  

tagged by: @jubberry (thanks!!!)

family feud [t]

The decidedly less-than-familial relationships between the members of the Umbrella Academy leak to the public in the most chaotic way possible: live on television.

the first fic i wrote for this fandom and i still absolutely love it. i hate how much of it came true, but i love it. mad props to @igpitn and @fiveyas for brainstorming this monstrosity in our dms.

homecoming [e]

Tagging along on an Academy mission to Moscow, Vanya takes the opportunity to track down her birth mother. Five joins her.

Things don't go according to plan.

originally, this was going to be my only ‘serious’ fic for tua, so i went absolutely apeshit on it. fast forward a few months later and that... Did Not Happen, but i still feel like some of my best writing came through here. probably because i was literally throwing everything at the wall, thinking that’d be it.

borrow your heart, and leave you mine [t]

In most universes, Vanya Hargreeves leaves home at seventeen. In this universe, she returns a few months later. (She comes home to Luther. It changes a lot of things. But not everything.)

this sprung fully-formed from a random thought i rambled out on this blog months ago, and though it was physically painful to write, i think it was also one of my favorites, probably because of how cathartic it was. vanluther don’t get enough love as a ship, and i was surprised by how much i loved them together (even if that isn’t exactly how they ended up).

treat me like a stranger [m]

He knows what he has to do, and feels his gut turn in horrific guilt.

But it’s the ideal solution, isn’t it? Five has to keep her in his sight, has to keep a close eye on her to keep her off the path that’ll lead to the apocalypse, and he must do so without arousing the Commission’s attention.

The answer is laying in front of him, dead as can be.

Five stares down at Leonard, and steels himself to the grim task ahead of him: He must steal Leonard Peabody's identity, and seduce Vanya.

(Or, Five loses track of his siblings, lands in his adult body, in the past one week earlier, and... chooses a different route of stopping the apocalypse.)

spawned from an amalgamation of ideas from the tua kinkmeme that i’d been incubating for over a year. also an experiment in a lighter prose style that i think went really well!

ut malum pluvia [t]

At exactly twelve in the afternoon on the first of October, 1989, forty-three women, who had shown no signs of pregnancy up until that very moment, gave birth to a litter of extraordinary children in a series of seemingly random locations around the world. Those of said children who’d survived the surprise of birth and its immediate aftermath, being utterly unwanted, were put up for adoption, or else abandoned.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves, esteemed and eccentric billionaire, obtained seven of them, and set to work training them to save the world, forming a team of superpowered child vigilantes that take the world by storm. Until they don't. Until they splinter and schism, and go their separate ways.

Until they reunite in the shadow of the apocalypse, and together, find a way to be a family for the first time.

(Or: fuck it, I'll do it myself.)

the monster itself. i can’t believe i started it. i can’t believe i finished it. i can’t believe it’s as good as it is. a massive achievement for me as a writer, but also just a real therapeutic experience in writing it. it felt great getting all my thoughts out and i feel insulated against whatever gets thrown at us next.

i tag: @fiveyaaas, @queeenpersephone, @263adder, @luz-floral, @liquidsparks, and anyone who wants to participate

[ao3feed-alluther]

by Mimitola

Vanya was always off limits. As kids, Five would hit, trip, hurt and had once gone as far as to break an arm of someone who had even in the slightest fashion managed to make her scream, cry, whimper or even flinch.

Now that he had many years as a professional assassin, many kills under his belt, all of them were scared…

And one of these idiots just broke his favorite toy.

Words: 1549, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of Death Can't Be My Release

Fandoms: The Umbrella Academy (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/M

Characters: Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Klaus Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves, Reginald Hargreeves, The Sparrow Academy

Relationships: Number Five | The Boy/Vanya Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves/Luther Hargreeves, The Hargreeves Family

Additional Tags: Fiveya Week, Fiveya Week 2020, BAMF Vanya Hargreeves, Immortality, Character Death, The Sparrow Academy (Umbrella Academy), Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Overprotective Number Five | The Boy

[jjdoggies-fanfics]

Day 2: Dancing/Training

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27344002

@fivevanya

Title: A Life With Love, Is A Life That’s Been Lived

There was a second, waiting with bated breath, that Five had sincerely hoped that Vanya would be able to shatter the wine glass. Just like Reginald had tried to get her to when they were four. He waited, hoped, and nothing.

Vanya dropped her stance, slumping down a bit in defeat, obviously dejected. They’d been working on her training for nearly two hours, with very little results. There had been a few early successes, five glasses were nicely shattered, seven had been cracked beyond usage but not shattered, and the remaining five glasses, all of which had been ‘borrowed’ from the bar, remained in perfect condition. 

Five knew that, if he really wanted to, he could push Vanya to keep practicing, to either shatter or crack another wine glass. He could, and she’d listen. But, that sounded like something Reginald would do, and that was the absolute last thing that Five wanted to do. Emulate Reginald in any possible way, but especially not when he was with Vanya. 

Rather than continue on training, and when Five noticed the saddened look on Vanya’s face, knowing that she was blaming herself for not being able to magically have perfect control of her powers in an instant, despite how convenient it would be if she did, he instead decided that he was going to get her to stop being upset and be happy, well, happier.

Trying to think of ways he could accomplish his goal, preferably without causing too much noise or using his powers, considering that Reginald still didn’t know that they knew about Vanya’s powers, along with all the manipulation and lies he’d spread to the rest of them to keep her from finding out, Five figured it was best to be as discrete as possible. The only way they’d been able to be in the training room, practicing Vanya’s powers in the first place was because someone, who will remain unnamed, accidentally took out the camera that had been set up and Reginald hadn’t been able to get it fixed. (A few missing parts and tools helped with slowing the process)

Then, it hit him. The perfect idea.

“I’ll be right back.” Five told Vanya, waiting for her to give him a short, still sad, nod before jumping into Luther’s room. Unsurprisingly, he found Luther and Allison sitting together on Luther’s bed, awfully close for people who still denied being in a relationship. Children. “I need to borrow your record player Luther.” Five said, one hand already on the device, the other pulling one of the few classical records that were a part of the collection Luther had, one that Vanya had mentioned as one of her favorites. (Not forgetting that she’d enjoyed listening to it, despite Luther only playing it once as ‘He’ (Allison) had claimed he didn’t like classical music that much.

Before Luther, or Allison, could protest Five, and Vanya, borrowing his record player, Five jumped back into the training room, finding Vanya picking up some of the bigger shards of glass from the wine glasses, most of which were already in the bin Five had been storing them in after taking them from the bar. But, when he landed Vanya quickly, and carefully, stopped picking up glass shards and looked over at him, thankfully already in a slightly improved mood since he’d left for a mere minute at most.

“Five,” Vanya said, “why do you have Luther’s record player? Are we gonna use it for more training?”

There was a mixed look of sadness and interest on Vanya’s face, while Five shook his head telling her, “Nope. We’re gonna take a break from training for a bit.” 

“Then, why bring the record player?” Vanya asked him.

Five, rather than immediately answering her, not ignoring Vanya’s question, he plugged the record player in, after settling it on a box that did not hold glass shards near the sole outlets in the training room, and carefully set the record onto the player and dropped the needle before jumping to Vanya’s side.

And, rather than being a bit startled like anyone else would’ve been, she gave him a small, excited smile before it practically dissolved in front of him, before she asked, “What are we doing then Five?”

Again, rather than immediately answering her, again not ignoring Vanya’s question, Five instead took a hold of one of Vanya’s hands and guided it to his shoulder, taking a hold of Vanya’s other hand while his first hand settled, carefully, onto her waist.  

At first, Vanya has been tense, unsure of what he’d planned; but as quickly as she’d tensed, Vanya relaxed in his hold, a playful smile on her face met the smirk on his. “Do you trust me?” Five asked, even though he knew her answer before the nod and soft ‘yes’ spilled from her lips, emboldening the smirk on his face ever so slightly more as he told her, “Just follow my lead.”

Five, as the one with more formal ballroom dance training, because that was something they needed to learn, took the lead while Vanya, who knew more than Five had suspected, and would definitely ask about later, simply followed. While they dance, Five, not that he’d’ve told Vanya, could feel her pounding heartbeat in the palm of her hand, and also felt it slow, until he could no longer feel it quite as easily, just as Vanya rested her head on his chest. Never had Five been so pleased to be in a child’s, although now they were roughly seventeen, body, relishing in the whole three inches he’d gained on Vanya. 

As much as he wished they could stay like that forever, silently swaying together to the music, not really dancing anymore; they both knew they’d have to return to reality, and the forevermore eternal hell of living under Reginald’s roof, again. And the telltale sound of a clicking cane, indicated that Pogo was nearing the training room, and, in turn, causing to Vanya quickly pulling away from him with a look of panic.

In yet another quick decision, Five took a hold of Vanya’s hands and jumped them both up to his bedroom, abandoning the record player which was going to most definitely get Luther into trouble if Reginald found it, but Pogo hopefully wouldn’t say anything about it. 

Upon landing in his bedroom, Vanya, who was not nearly as used to spatial jumping as Five was, nearly toppled over; and would have if Five hadn’t still had a hold on her hands, keeping her steady. “Are you okay?” Five asked, having waited a moment as Vanya regained her balance, who gave him a quick nod.

Just as Five was about to ask Vanya about their next training session, she perked up mere seconds before the bell Grace used to call them for meals rang out, giving them a five minute warning. Vanya, seemingly suddenly, regained a newfound confidence; one Five didn’t see often, but loved seeing. There was a look in her eyes, one that Five very much liked, as it often led to something he’d wanted to do with Vanya for nearly fifty years.

Vanya pushed up onto her toes, Five leaning down slightly, his lips meeting hers. Every time they kissed, it gave him the same rush of excitement, and oddly nerves, just like he’d felt the very first time they’d kissed. The night before he’d left, forever seared into Five’s mind as the biggest mistake he’d ever made in his life. Pushing the tainted memory away, Five cupped the side of Vanya’s face, ignoring the slow burning in his lungs as what had started as a simple kiss evolved into a near makeout until a knock on Five’s door startled both of them.

“Five?” Ben, at least is was their least intrusive sibling, “Are you coming?”

While Vanya frivolously tried to fix any stray hairs on her head in preparation for dinner with Reginald, there weren’t any out of place anyhow, but regardless, Five called back to Ben, in hopes of avoiding any further questioning or scrutiny, “Yeah, I’ll meet you down there.”

And, it worked. Ben left with the parting message through the door along the lines of ‘seeing him soon’ and ‘he better not be late’ before walking away. He waited for Vanya to tell him when Ben had walked back downstairs, their brother not wanting to be late to dinner and incur the wrath of Reginald. And once Vanya told him the coast was clear, Five took a hold of Vanya’s hands again, jumping into her abysmally small bedroom. Five waited for Vanya to, once again, regain her balance before pressing a quick kiss to her lips, and telling her “I love you, Vanya Hargreeves.”

Five, being the narcissistic man he is, waited for Vanya to tell him, “And I love you, Five Hargreeves.” dissolving into childish giggles and a bright smile on her face; which undoubtedly caused a smirk, a smile, to find its way onto his own face before he jumped downstairs to face the proverbial devil. 

[jjdoggies]

Day 6: Endings/Beginnings

moodboard for my day 6 of fiveya week, endings/beginnings

link to fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429154/chapters/67049683

[fivebyseven]

DAY ONE of #fiveyaweek — memories

def: (n.) the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information; something remembered from the past; a recollection.

Welcome to DAY ONE of our 2020 Fiveya Week! Our prompt for Sunday, Nov. 1st is “memories”. Maybe we take a journey back to Five and Vanya’s childhood? A bittersweet reminiscence? Or maybe they have a memento they’ve held onto? Whatever it is, we’d love to see your take on the prompt!

All prompts are free to interpretation and all interpretations of Fiveya are welcome. Please post this at your own pace and we’ll always be accepting submissions, even late ones! Happy Fiveya Week, we can’t wait to see everyone’s interpretations! Interested in joining? See our original post here for info + how to submit your work! Don’t forget to mention us and tag us!

[pinacoladasprinkles]

Fiveya Dictionary (Day Three: Childhood)

@fivevanya :) For Fiveya week 2020

[jjdoggies-fanfics]

Day 3: Childhood

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364003

@fivevanya

Title: Say You’ll Remember Me

He was supposed to fix things. He was supposed to be able to stop the apocalypse, return to his family, keep them safe. But he failed. Now they were stuck, in some alternate dimension, or timeline, or universe, and they were all back in their teenage bodies.

When Five realized how badly he’d fucked up getting them to safety, only intending to go back a week or so, maybe even just a day, but instead got them lost somewhere else, he started counting how many things they already had working against them. 

Number one, they had no fucking clue when or where they were. 

Number two, he had no idea if they were even still in the same timeline or not. 

Number three, Vanya’s powers were still a huge question mark to them. 

Number four, Five had no way of getting them to the right time at the moment. 

Number five, he had no clue when or if The Commission was going to rear its head, again. 

Number six, they were currently seven teenagers wandering aimlessly, with no guardian present, drawing them unneeded attention. 

And number seven, which was debatably the worst of all, their father was alive again.

There were a few pluses to their current predicament. Firstly, Ben was alive again. Secondly, they were all still alive. Thirdly, at least for Five, they were all physically the same age again, even if he’d always be decades older than them mentally. Fourthly, they were still all together, and not thrown aimlessly across time. And fifthly, it seemed that Vanya was no longer stuck in whatever trance her powers had trapped her in.

Granted that when they’d first landed, Vanya was still unconscious so they hadn’t known that at first. And Luther and Diego, being the idiots they were, still were hesitant about letting their sister, who’d only just found out she had powers in the past week and had incidentally lost control of said newly discovered powers, live. Thankfully for Vanya, who was still unconscious at the time, Allison, Klaus, Ben and Five had all heavily disagreed with Luther and Diego’s suggestion that they kill their sister, so Vanya was still with them.

When they hadn’t landed at The Academy, their group also had to figure out where to go. Unsurprisingly, Luther’s first idea was to go back to Dad, which was quickly shot down. Especially when Ben asked someone where they were, only to find out they’d landed all the way in Dallas, Texas in 1960. So even if they did return to their father, he wouldn’t know who they were. And telling him would fuck with the timeline so badly it hurt Five’s head just thinking about it.

Within a day of landing in Dallas, a much older Hazel found them, inviting them to come with him to a farm he and Agnes had gotten three decades earlier, when they’d escaped the 2019 apocalypse. When one of his siblings, likely Klaus considering Allison still couldn’t talk, asked Hazel about his ‘donut lady’ the former Commission agent told them that she’d died a few years earlier, dying from cancer. 

Hazel provided them with a much needed home base while Five tried to figure out an equation to get his siblings back to 2019, preferably after their father died and keeping Ben alive. Unsurprisingly it was already giving Five a massive migraine trying to figure it out.

It had taken nearly two full days after they’d landed for Vanya to wake up. Specifically to gasp awake with a scream on her lips, tears streaming down her face, and a migraine nearly as bad as Five’s already set in. Five and Hazel had been the only ones in the house when she’d woken up, the rest of their siblings had been assigned tasks to attend to on the farm and were quite occupied, and far away, when it had happened.

Vanya’s scream had jolted Five out of his thoughts, jumping into her room, ready to attack what or whoever was scaring her, only to find Vanya watching him, her cheeks soaked in tears and a look of pain and confused on her face. He hadn’t realized anything was wrong, it hadn’t even crossed his mind, until he reached out to comfort her, and Vanya flinched away from him.

“Vanya?” Five asked, sure his confusion was evident in his voice but not caring about it one bit, “What’s wrong?”

Five thought, after spending over four decades in the apocalypse, and then more of his years at The Commission, there wasn’t much that could upset him. That was, until Vanya asked him, “Who are you?” 

For a second, Five thought she was messing with him, some kind of payback for accidentally leaving her behind all those years ago. But when the fear stayed on her face, no laughter or smiles finding their way, Five felt like the rug had been pulled out from under him and a rock had been placed in his stomach. She really didn’t remember him.

“Vanya, it’s me. Five.” As he pleaded with her, hoping something he could say or do would get Vanya to remember him, “I’m your,” their different relationship would be too hard to explain, especially if she couldn’t remember anything about him, about them, “your brother.” Five felt his heart crack a bit more when he took a small step towards her, and Vanya moved away from him, even in just the slightest bit.

Five nearly jolted out of his skin when a hand pressed into his shoulder, before he remembered Hazel also had heard Vanya screaming. “Let me handle this Old-Timer.” Hazel said, giving a small gesture towards a still very scared Vanya, “Go get your siblings, try to tell them what’s going on.” Five gave Hazel a quick nod, and just before he jumped, Hazel added, “And make sure you all return quietly, we don’t want to scare her anymore than she already is.”

Fearing that he’d have to face the fact that his, Vanya, didn’t remember him if he stayed any longer,  Five jumped to the barn, expecting at least two of his siblings to be nearby as Hazel slowly and calmly approached Vanya. 

When Five landed in the barn, he just about crashed into Ben and absolutely scarred the shit out of Klaus, who’d nearly jumped three feet in the air at his sudden appearance. “Five? What’s wrong?” Ben asked, “You look upset.”

Klaus ran out of the barn, getting Luther, Diego, and Allison while Ben talked to him. “There’s a problem. A very big problem. And I don’t know how bad it is. Or how to fix it.”

“What is it Five? What’s wrong?” Ben asked, concern creeping into his brother’s voice as Five’s vagueness towards whatever the issue that was upsetting him continued.

Five sighed, wishing he could’ve been with Vanya, needing her as his source of comfort, but that option, obviously, wasn’t available at the moment. Instead, Five told Ben, “Vanya doesn’t remember me.”

“What?” Klaus’s voice screeched from the doors of the barn, having returned with their other three siblings, “What do you mean Vanya doesn’t remember you? Does she remember any of us? Or anything? Does she know who she is? Does she remember what happened? Does she-”

“Klaus,” Diego hissed, pulling their brother’s arm, “stop talking.”

“I, I don’t know.” Five admitted, surprising his siblings, considering he prided himself on knowing as much as possible and always more than his siblings in any given situation, “I don’t know how bad it is, or how much she does or doesn’t remember. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

Ben put a comforting hand on his shoulder, much like Hazel had a few moments earlier, “Five, you don’t have to fix this alone.” Ben told him, “You have us, for help.”

Before, Five would’ve never flat-out accepted anyone’s help, especially his siblings’ but now, he needed all the help he could get. This was, Vanya was, far too important to him to fuck it up. Five nodded, muttering a quick “Thanks.” before instructing his siblings to follow him back to the farmhouse, emphasising their need to be quiet as they did so.

They, as quietly as possible, made their way up the two flights of stairs to the attic Vanya and Allison had been sharing. Five slowly opened the door with a click, seeing Hazel still sitting on the edge of the bed by Vanya, who’d moved from the opposite corner from the man to being a few inches from him, looking completely at ease. 

But when her eyes moved from Hazel to the six of them, or maybe just him, Vanya’s entire body was consumed in tension and fear, trying to hide behind Hazel. Five wished he could’ve heard whatever Hazel whispered in Vanya’s ear that caused all the tension that had suddenly arose in her body to melt away. And despite hiding herself away from view, for the most part staying behind Hazel, Vanya’s eyes jumped between the six of them, not lasting on any of them for particularly long.

“Vanny?” Klaus called, deciding to be the first one to say something, taking a few cautious steps towards their sister, “Do you know who I am? Or any of us?” Klaus stopped approaching the bed when Vanya started to shift away from him as he moved closer.

There was a tense beat of silence that filled the room, Five felt as if his heart was pounding out of his chest, while they all waited for Vanya to reply as Vanya watched Klaus with some fascination. In the seconds that Vanya hadn’t answered, Five wasn’t sure if it would be better or worse if she didn’t remember any of them. It would hurt less if it wasn’t just him. 

When Vanya gave Klaus a minute headshake, Five didn’t want to say he was relieved it wasn’t just him that she couldn’t remember; but it also hadn’t eased the pain in his heart. There were a few more hesitant questions that Vanya had been asked, most receiving a silent nod or headshake, a few one or two word answers sprinkled in. 

After a few more questions had been asked, Hazel shooed them out of the room, leaving Vanya alone for a little bit, as she’d been getting a bit overwhelmed and frustrated with all the questions and lack of answers she had for them. The Hargreeves and Hazel moved down to the small living room, or maybe it was only small because there was seven people in it, as they talked about some sort of plan to handle Vanya’s new found amnesia.

“Do you think if we just said, or do, the right thing it’ll just,” Klaus started, making some odd gestures as he waved his arms around, “trigger something? Like make her remember?”

“But, isn’t it better?” Luther asked, “That she doesn’t remember certain things. So she’s not so-”

“Murderous?” Diego hissed, a glare set upon his face. But he still got a smack on his arm from an equally angry looking Allison, who was giving him a rather annoyed look.

His idiotic siblings bickered back and forth for another 10 minutes before Hazel got the Hargreeves to shut up and listen to him, much like Five wanted to, but likely would’ve done so in a much blunter manner, as Hazel explained to them what he believed was happening, what likely caused it, and what might fix it. Fix her.

When a second round of bickering start between his siblings, Five hadn’t bothered paying attention to them this time, much more interested in keeping his brain cells, instead Five slipped out of the room, intending to casually wait near Allison and Vanya’s room. Just as he reached the very top steps, only two or three of them left, Five nearly crashed into the only person that could’ve possibly been in the top of the farmhouse. Vanya.

She, after also realizing she’d nearly run into him, jumped back a bit, an annoyingly familiar look of panic in her eyes. The same look she’d get forever ago; the scared, timid little girl with a desperate need for approval and acceptance seared into her every being. Desperately, and naively, hoping that her own siblings would acknowledge her, at least for one second.

But now, there was entirely different reason for her scared looks. And it wasn’t because of a fear of rejection.

It was because, she didn’t know them. She didn’t even know anything about herself beyond her own name, according to what Hazel told them in their little meeting.

No lonely childhood, filled with constant reminders of her supposed ‘ordinaryness’ or insults from her siblings. No traumatic week, full of betrayal, abandonment, pain and a murderous ex-boyfriend. Him abandoning her, accidentally of course, in the academy, with their father and uncaring, besides Ben and on occasion Klaus, siblings. No memories of rainy days spent in the library, nights sneaking out to Griddy’s, or the stolen moments in time together. Their life together. Nothing.

“Five?” Vanya, “Are you okay?”

For one of the few times in his life, Five stumbled over his words, struggling to keep his thoughts the slightest bit organized as he replied, “Um, ye-yeah. Do you-”

“Remember anything?” Vanya guessed, a half smile trying to hide away on her face before dropping into a sullen frown, “No. Not yet at least.”

Five gave her a small nod, making sure she knew he was listening to her, giving her even the smallest amount of his attention, before asking, “If you don’t remember anything, then how did you know my name?”

She lamely gave him a shrug, a move Vanya often did when she didn’t want to explain. But, when he gave her a questioning look, with an added light nudge to her shoulder, Vanya explained, “I don’t know, really. I just, saw you, I guess. And I just, knew.”

Instead of wondering why, when she’d seen him before, either times, that hadn’t triggered whatever part of her mind that now was letting her remember. Five instead asked her, “Where were you going?” which wouldn’t answer any of the questions he wanted to ask her. That he needed to ask her. He needed her.

“Oh, um, I was,” Vanya, much like Five had a few moments earlier, stumbled over her words as she explained, “I was just going to go get a glass of water.” And before his mind realized what his body was doing, Five jumped into the kitchen and filled a glass with water for her and reappeared in front of her.

It wasn’t until after he’d already used his powers another two times in front of her that he thought it might’ve freaked her out in the slightest bit. Five readied himself, closing his eyes, waiting for her to jump away from him, fearing him. Instead, small, warm fingers wrapped themselves around his wrist, the one not holding the glass of water. “Five?” The glass slid from his hands, into one of her’s, leaving his hand cold from the water but empty. “Thank you.”

He cracked his eyes open as he heard two feet scurrying away from him, the occasional wooden board creaking, followed by the bedroom door clicking shut. Five knew she’d just left him, figuratively slipping through the cracks of his fingers again. But, for once, it was her leaving him, rather than him always leaving her behind. Abandoning her, when she needed him most.

For a brief second, he thought he was back. Back there. Dirt sneaking into his lungs, smoke causing his eyes to water. Desperation filling every fiber of his being. Desperate to return to his family, to save them from their deaths. Desperate to escape the apocalypse. Desperate to survive. Desperate. Needing her more than ever.

More than he’d ever admit.

The door clicked again, the hinges squeaking a bit as Vanya pulled it open, her head poking out into the hallway. “Five?” she called his name and he was in front of her in an instant, ready to do whatever she wanted him to do, “Can you, lay, in the bed, with me? I’m scared.” He was already going to agree, knowing how nightmares would stave off any sleep she could get for days at a time; but when, in a whisper she added, “I don’t want to be alone.”

He could’ve easily jumped into the room, landing on or near the bed, even bringing Vanya with him. Instead, Five gently wrapped his hand around one of hers, walking into the room when she shuffled over, and lead Vanya with him to the bed. He crawled in first, moving to the farther side of the bed, giving Vanya the choice of joining him or fleeing. He’d understand either way.

Five was, however, extraordinarily happy when Vanya slid into the bed with him seconds after he’d settled in, sliding much closer to him than he’d expected. There were a few moments, as they laid in the bed together, silently, that they just watched each other. Five could see Vanya’s eyelids growing heavier by the second, her eyes sliding shut before snapping open again.

“Go to sleep Vanya, I’ll be here when you wake up.” Five told her.

Vanya looked at him through half-closed eyes, far too tired to keep them open a moment longer, giving him a very doe-eyed look, whispering, “Promise?”

“Promise.” Five answered.

He watched as Vanya snuggled into the covers, closer to him, closing her eyes with a soft smile on her face as she said, “Goodnight Five.”

“Goodnight Vanya.” Five replied, a light laugh escaping him, a soft smile making its way onto his face.

What he hadn’t expected was for Vanya to tell him, “I love you Five.” right before falling asleep. And it’s not like he’s going to wake her up just to ask Vanya what that meant.

Rather, Five just sighed, began carding one of his hands through her hair, whispering back, “I love you too Vanya.”

[jjdoggies-fanfics]

Day 6: Endings/Beginnings

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429154/chapters/67049683

@fivevanya

Title: Written On These Walls Are The Stories That I Can’t Explain

Chapter 1 of 4, the rest will be posted on Ao3

Klaus watched Allison do some final touches on the very natural makeup onto Vanya’s face, having it that had been approved by their sister roughly a month prior. He could see the nerves on who he’d always considered to be his little sister’s face; evidently the reminders from the few other people that had been flittering in and out of the room that Five and Vanya’s wedding was set to start in less than an hour wasn’t helping.

As Allison took a small step back, examining her perfectionist work, Klaus joined his older sister’s side, looking over his own work on Vanya’s perfectly pinned and twisted hair, paired with the flowered headband and white veil pinned to the back, if he  does  say so himself. Five had given him, in mostly secret, meaning Vanya didn’t know about it but the rest of them did, that he wanted Vanya’s hair to be pinned back and out of her face, as she had no reason to hide behind it at her own wedding. And Klaus and Allison, the unofficial hair and makeup team, heavily agreed, as did their other siblings.

For the most part, the siblings had unanimously agreed that their assigned numerical order basically implicated them as Luther being the oldest, although now that title belonged to Five, and Vanya as the youngest with Klaus being the  true  middle child. And because of this unspoken notion that Vanya was the youngest, each of the siblings felt varying degrees of protectiveness towards each of their siblings, but Vanya in particular. In part due to the first nearly thirty years of their lives believing that she was born without powers, which was a lie,  obviously .

In this new timeline though, within a month of Reginald Hargreeves, once again, killing himself in hopes of ‘reuniting the Umbrella Academy’ not knowing that they had never broken up in this timeline, only separating themselves from him, Five and Vanya were engaged and had roped Allison, Klaus, and Ben into helping plan the event.

Back to the issue at hand, despite basically  everyone  around them knowing that Five and Vanya had practically been made for each other, Klaus could practically see his sister shaking with nerves, a previous lifetime of a lack of self-confidence rising to the surface. He carefully reached a hand out and took a hold of one of Vanya’s hands, rubbing little circles into her hand in reassurance. “What’s got you so stressed Vanny?” he asked, “Is it Allison? Because we can kick her out, we don’t need her anyway.” 

He’d pretended to whisper the last bit, not lowering his voice at all, if anything getting louder, but the giggle that Vanya gave him was worth the soft glare Allison gave him for it. Klaus could see the slightest bit of tension ease from Vanya’s shoulders, as well as the small tremors nearly ceasing. “No, no, no.” Vanya said, “Nothing like that, it’s more, I just, I’m a. I’m just feeling a little, I don’t know-”

“Scared?” Allison guessed, “because it’s perfectly normal to be a little scared  right  before your wedding. That’s how I felt before I married Raymond.”

“Not Patrick?” Klaus teased.

Allison laughed shortly, ending it with a sigh before explaining that, “My marriage to Patrick was very different from my marriage to Raymond. Patrick and I’s wedding was very big, and extravagant, and public, and I knew like none of the people there. And the ones that I did were self-centered assholes. While Raymond and I’s wedding was small and private, I still didn’t know that many people there all that well, but I'd rather talk to them than those at Patrick and I’s wedding.”

“So being Mrs. Chestnut was  better , than being the A-List Mrs. Wilson?” Klaus asked, “How is that possible?”

“I didn’t say it was better!” Allison hissed, albeit the bite in it was lost by the barely contained laughter behind her grin, “I just said they were different.”

Klaus muttered to Vanya, “Different, different she says. You believe that?” Once again getting Vanya, and Allison, to laugh a bit, before he asked Vanya, much more seriously, “What about marrying Five, the little bastard that he is, is causing you to feel scared?”

“Um, well, it’s not so much that I’m like, scared.” Vanya said, “It’s more that, it’s more like, I’m just, I don’t know, nervous I guess. Because like, what if we’re making a huge mistake and once we’re married then we get into an argument or something and then we want to get a divorce, and we wouldn’t be able to be in the same room as each other, and our divorce leads to you guys all having to pick between me and Five, and then my half of the family wouldn’t talk to Five’s half of the family and that this wedding is what caused the entire family to be split in half all because Five and I got into some stupid argument.”

Allison and Klaus exchanged quick glances while Vanya worked herself up, again, before Allison took the lead in calming their sister down, again. “Vanya, not that any of us think that you and Five would get into any kind of argument that would lead to you guys getting a divorce, but even if you did, something insignificant like a divorce would not cause our weird, dysfunctional family to be broken up.”

Some of what Allison had said had gotten to Vanya, but not quite enough for her to completely be reassured that her wedding wasn’t going to ruin their family. Klaus added, “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen two people more made for each other than you and Five, Vanya.” He paused, reveling in the odd looks Vanya and Allison, more so Vanya as Allison was annoyed he’d used a line from her speech later, before laughing, continuing with, “God that was cheesy. Anyway, the point is Vanya, that couples and people argue. That’s normal. But, at least to me, and most of our siblings, as far as I know, it seems that you and Five are  destined to be together, as siblings, best friends, or married. Hell, he’s learned how to time travel to get back to you.”

“He came back for all of us Klaus,” Vanya said, “not just me.” 

Rather than point out to her that Five had quickly switched from killing whoever caused the apocalypse to just stopping them and helping them when he found out it was Vanya, Klaus did however, take note that she didn’t disagree with the rest of what he’d said.

Before anyone of them could say another word, there was,  thankfully  , a knock at the door of the makeshift dressing room momentarily paused any more talking. Klaus helped Vanya not trip over her dress, wearing white flats and  not  the short heels Allison and Klaus had tried talking her into wearing, while Allison answered whoever was knocking, pulling open the door to find Ben, crisply dressed in his grey top tux with black pants that matched Allison’s rose gold, with silver detailing, dress.

“Ben,” Allison started, glazing back at Klaus and Vanya before continuing, “we weren’t expecting you so soon.”

Their brother let out a short laugh, telling them that, “As much as I would love to be able to give you guys a few more minutes, Allison and Klaus are needed for line up.”

“Already?” Klaus asked, there was no way it was already-

“Yes, already.” Ben answered, “It’s quarter ‘til nine, and  I  am not going to be the cause of any delays and face the wrath of Five. So, if I were you, I’d go get lined up before Diego has to come look for you.”

“Diego?” Allison questioned, “Not Five?”

Ben shook his head, a small smirk on his face, as he told them, “Five is  oddly superstitious about not seeing His Bride until it’s ‘time’ and Diego has more time than Luther does, so Diego.” 

Without anymore convincing needed, Allison and Klaus both quickly left, giving their sister a few more quick, encouraging words before slipping out of the room, leaving Vanya with Ben. As they left, Klaus muttered something quickly to Ben as he passed.

As much as Vanya wanted to finick with her hair as she looked in the mirror, if only in an effort to avoid facing her thoughts (and Ben), the hair spray and Klaus’s previous reminders to ‘stop messing with your hair Vanya, or it’ll  never  be done in time’ kept her from doing so. And instead, she tried to tuck the little curls, that her brother and sister had gotten her up at 6am to burn into her hair, behind her ears, but they kept falling back out from behind them. She was still trying to avoid talking to, or even looking at, Ben, knowing she’d have to face the music.

God, she’s acting like she did something wrong.

Inevitably, Vanya turned from the mirror to face her brother, who was giving her a rather knowing look. “Vanya,” Ben started, “it’s okay if your a  bit stressed. It’s-”

“Normal?” Vanya guessed.

“I was going to say reasonable. But normal works too.” Ben replied. He placed a gentle hand on Vanya’s arm, “Are you ready? Or do you need another minute or two?” Before Vanya replied, he pulled her towards the door, saying that he needed to show her something.

They walked the opposite direction of where the ceremony was going to be taking place in roughly ten minutes at that point, and instead Ben lead her towards the reception area. “Ben? What are we doing?”

Her brother said nothing, just kept leading her towards the reception area, which was still getting the final details set up. There was a pair of wooden doors in front of them, the only thing separating Vanya and Ben from the reception area. 

Ben pushed open the doors, and pulled Vanya into the semi-lit room. As she walked into the room, Vanya nearly immediately noticed the many, many, many pictures covering the walls, filling various frames, and littering the spaces left on the tables, most of which she didn’t remember being taken. There were an array of pictures, all of which had her and Five, most featuring their siblings, and several others featuring their friends and tolerable coworkers.

Vanya looked through a small portion of the pictures, being transported back to the memory attached to them as she did, for several minutes, not noticing that nearly all the nervousness that she’d felt before had disappeared. And when Ben asked her, one last time, “Are you ready?”

She simply replied, with a soft smile “Yes.”

[jjdoggies-fanfics]

Day 1: Memories

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27320533

Fiveya Week 2020 is upon us!! @fivevanya

Title: I Will Rise And Stand My Ground

Where the hell was she?

One minutes she’s driving with Sissy and Harlan, then she’s being questioned, interrogated, and drugged by the FBI, then she was getting shocked half to death, and now she’s here.

Wherever here is.

The building. House. Something told her she was in a house. Her house? No. It was too big to be her house. Did she have a house? Vanya couldn’t remember having a house, but something smaller.

Her head hurt.

She was in a room, a very small room. With barely enough space for a bed and a dresser. Who could live like this? Was this, did this used to be her room?

Vanya walked out of the small bedroom, and as she walked into the hallway there was a flash of blue light in the corner of her eye. Didn’t one of her brothers do that? The younger one. With the uniform. Five! When she tried to find him, expecting to see Five near where the blue light had come from, and turned up nothing.

Her eyes must’ve just been playing tricks on her. 

Or perhaps Five had seen her, and left. He must be mad at her. She’s very late for the meeting he’d wanted her for, the way for their family to leave Dallas, and go home. He should be angry at her. Vanya forced herself to push away the thoughts of her siblings, of Five, and she walked through the hall until her feet lead her to some stairs.

And as she approached them, she could hear something downstairs, it sounded like someone talking. But, she couldn’t recognize the voice. Her foot barely touched the first step of the stairs before there was another flash of blue. Two this time, in quick succession. And when Vanya looked around again, hoping to see the source, to see Five, to see anyone, her search, again, turned up nothing.

Once again, shaking her head, as if that would be enough to deter anymore thoughts of her siblings, or of Five, Vanya resumed her decent down the stairs. As she reached the bottom of the rather large staircase, with no further signs of flashes of blue light, Vanya instead wondered into what must’ve been their dining room, following the sounds of talking. The voice still unrecognizable to her.

“Number Seven,” that voice, she knew, Reginald Hargreeves, their adoptive father, “you’re late. Take your seat.” She’d barely crossed the threshold into the room with her father, mother, and siblings, and she was already feeling inadequate, despised, and out of place, in her own home. Vanya, who evidently was also called Number Seven, swiftly and silently moved into the only empty chair at the rather large table meant for eight.

As she settled into her seat, their mother placed a plate with a yellowed brain on it in front of her. Vanya’s eyes flicked up from the brain on her plate to look at the others’ plates, only to find similar brains on theirs. Their father told them, commanded them, to eat as if they were dogs and not people. And while Vanya looked on in confusion, the rest of her siblings dug into their brains, undeterred from the disgusting ‘meal’ and ate without a word.

Again, Reginald hissed out, “Number Seven, eat your dinner.” In an instant Vanya felt the weight of eight pairs of eyes set on her. Reginald, Mom, Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Ben? (Why was Ben an adult now? He should still be a kid) They were all watching her, waiting for her to do as she was told. But, she didn’t want to.

“I’m not hungry.” Vanya said, pushing the plate in front of her away. For a moment, she thought she wouldn’t have to eat the brain, her siblings would stop staring at her, Reginald would stop glaring at her. 

“Eat your dinner Number Seven.” Reginald ordered.

Vanya looked between her six siblings, hoping for one to be understanding, on her side. Instead Luther, Diego, and Allison looked annoyed. Klaus and, who she believed to be, Ben seemed to be looking at her with pity and worry. And Five, the one she’d felt closest and safest with, he just looked angry.

That’s not right.

The look on Five’s face, and it being directed at her, it felt wrong. He hadn’t been that angry with her when she’d argued with him, the many, many times, or when she ignored him and his wishes returning to the farm.

All of, most of, the looks on her siblings faces felt wrong. At first, Vanya felt like she deserved their annoyance, pity, and anger, as if her mere presence was enough to upset her siblings. But as she looked between the looks, Vanya grew annoyed herself, something deep inside her yelling that she didn’t deserve their anger or pity or annoyance. It screamed that she should be able to exist in a room with her siblings without them hating her mere presence. It screeched inside her that she deserve to be treated like a person, rather than the dirt on their shoes.

Where had this anger come from?

“Vanya,” Five said, there was a crack in his glare, he’d softened for a moment, looking more like the Five she knew. But the crack sealed back up in an instant, and he glared at her again as he continued, “why don’t you ever listen?” What? “It’s all your fault Vanya.” Stop it Five. “You’re just ordinary, and insignificant.” No.

“You’re lying.” Vanya hissed, keeping her gaze firmly on the table in front of her. The glint of the knife near her right hand pulling her attention.

The silverware in Five’s hands clattered to the table. Everyone else utterly still. “I’m a liar, Vanya?” Five asked.

Vanya told him, keeping her eyes on the knife rather than Five’s face, “I didn’t say you were a liar Five. I said you were lying. There’s a difference.” There something annoyingly familiar about the knife. Something nagging in her mind about the knife, the table, Five, and an argument.

There was a flash of something, a memory? Five stabbing the table with a knife, and he was arguing with…. with…. who Five had been arguing with was lost to her. But he hadn’t been looking at her.

“Would you stop it Vanya?” Allison was yelling at her now, looking more annoyed than she had before, “Some of us are trying to eat our dinner without making a spectacle out of it.” When Vanya pulled her eyes from her knife to her sister, she then noticed the table’s center piece garland and pineapple? (When had that gotten there?) had been floating a foot off the table. And came down with a clatter.

Once it dropped, Allison’s attention, along with everyone else’s including Five’s, returned to their brains. And that annoyed Vanya more than anything.

It felt like anger filled her every being. She doesn’t deserve to be ignored or berated all the time by her own family. Rather than try to push down her anger like she at first wanted to, rather she felt herself minisculely shake in her fury. The air around her shook. Then spread to the table, then the room, the house, the world. There were several voices yelling at her, about her, ordering her around, ordering her to stop. They were swimming and fighting each other on the way to her ears. It was too much. Too loud. And it kept building, and building, and building, until it exploded.

Literally.

The pineapple that had appeared on the table exploded like it had at the last family dinner Vanya had been to with the Hargreeves. And everything silenced for a moment. That is until Vanya’s eyes looked back to Allison, who’s throat was cut and bleeding out. Allison with Vanya in a cabin, strong winds blowing around them, Allison nearly rumoring Vanya, Vanya slashing with her bow to top her sister, Allison bleeding out, Vanya getting dragged out by….. by….. by Leonard. Vanya practically tumbled out of her chair, clattering to the floor in shock. 

“Number Seven!” Reginald hissed, standing from his chair while her siblings sat in their chairs watching her again, “You will stop this insolent behavior immediately and follow orders! You will sit in your chair, silently, eat your dinner, and take your medication as instructed.” Vanya ignored their father and stayed on the floor, curling into a ball, holding her head.

Her head was hurting again. Worse now. Her eyes were screwed shut.

The floodgates were opening.

Memories began trickling in one by one, rainy days reading with Five and Ben, Klaus braiding her hair with shaking hands (only when Allison was busy), then a stream of other memories, recent memories, Reginald’s funeral, Five falling from the sky, waking up locked away in the cage in the basement, and in an instant a rush of memories, from her birth, somehow, to their fucked up childhood, and into an extraordinarily lonely adulthood.

“Vanya?” A voice, another one she could recognize, but it’s been a long time since she’d heard it, “Vanya, can you hear me?” it sounded a lot like, “It’s Ben, your brother.” Ben.

When Vanya opened her eyes, she was alone. The table was fixed, reset. The room was cleaned of her mess. The brains were gone. “Ben?” Vanya called into the emptiness, sincerely hoping she hadn’t completely lost it and her mind was playing tricks on her, “Ben?”

She wondered back towards the stairs, hoping for some sign of her possibly-alive-now dead brother. A silhouette standing in front of the large windows, “Ben?”

“Vanya!” The silhouette, Ben, said, before practically running down the stairs and crashing into Vanya with a hug. Without a second thought Vanya hugged her brother back. After a few minutes of hugging, Ben pulled away, taking a hold of Vanya’s shoulders as he asked, “Are you okay?” 

She gave him a quick nod and asked, “How do we get out of here?” Vanya looked around the foyer, hoping to find some new exit sign, and finding nothing. When she looked back at Ben, he was slowly becoming covered in blue, with a sad smile on his face, “What’s happening Ben?”

“It’s okay.” Ben told her, “I came to help you after all. Everything’s okay.”

“How, how can you say that? It’s, it’s not okay! Ben!” Vanya cried, “There, there has to be a way that, that, that we can both leave.”

Ben tried, again, to convince her that it was okay, “Vanya, it’s okay. This is how it’s supposed to happen.”

(If Vanya had been paying attention to Ben, rather than scrunching her eyes closed again and trying to force herself and Ben out of whatever hellscape she’d gotten them stuck in, she would’ve seen that the blue flecks of light coming off Ben, had reversed their course. Ben was no longer dying for a second time, but rather, coming back to life.)

Vanya gasped back into the real world, still bound to the chair in the FBI’s interrogation room. The bonds on her wrists and ankles had been undone, somehow, and she ripped the helmet they’d shoved onto her head off, before pushing out of her chair and finding Diego, Allison, and Klaus at the end of the hallway. Once she made sure they were okay, and they made sure she was okay, the four of them walked out of the FBI building together, intending to meet back at Elliot’s with Luther and Five. But before they did, there was a figure waiting for them just outside the building.

“Ben?” Diego asked, while Allison, Klaus, and Vanya each had surprised looks on their faces, but for somewhat different reasons. Allison was the first to launch herself into a hug with Ben, Klaus joining next, and Diego shortly after, while Vanya watched from a bit away. For the second Vanya stopped paying attention (Thoughts not thinking about what Klaus had wondered about Five before. They weren’t!) someone’s hand pulled her into their little group hug. After another long hug, none of them wanting to pull away first, they wandered back to their base, and when Luther and Five saw Ben, alive, there was another group hug of the seven Hargreeves siblings.

Five, who’d returned with his fixed equation for time travel, had them stand in a circle, Luther, Allison, Vanya, Five, Diego, Ben, and Klaus, and built a ring of blue power around them, opening a wormhole type of portal, and when they crossed through the other side, together, they were home.

They were home, whole, and safe again.

Then they met The Sparrow Academy.

[jjdoggies]

Day 3: Childhood

moodboard for my day 3 of fiveya week, childhood link to fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364003